August 11th Central Minnesota Storm Chase - Supercell and Wall Cloud
08-11-07 STORM CHASE: MN
Myself and MaryLynn Voth went out from Burnsville during the mid afternoon, targeting central MN. Thunderstorms were expected to develop to our west and then drift towards our position by the late afternoon. The first storms of the day started to develop near Dassel and we were able to intercept the best looking cell near Cokato. The storm was in the first developing stages but was already beginning to produce a lowering and nice inflow tail. The storm continued to intensify as we followed on Highway 12 and then south on County Road 6 to Winsted. The storm was moving to the southeast around 20 mph so we were able to keep up quite easily with the good road network we faced in this area. Upon reaching an area near New Germany on County Road 33, the storm produced a rotating wall cloud and nice beaver tail. In the last picture below, there is even a lowering from the wall cloud that looks quite interesting upon further review, but could be just condensating air into the wall cloud. This feature did not stick around long enough to distinguish exactly what it was. The storm kept the wall cloud for 20-30 minutes before starting to go outflow dominant and produce a shelf cloud as we reached the southwest side of the Twin Cities Metro near Chaska. At this time, the storm took on an incredible hue of yellow and orange as the sun was setting behind the storm and the hail core. Getting close to sunset and realizing we were likely to get cored if we stayed at our location, we ended the chase as the storm was very outflow dominant with expanding heavy rain.
Lowered base on the storm soon after developing near Winsted, MN.
Lowered base starting to form into a wall cloud between Winsted and New Germany, MN. Notice the rain core starting to form.
Another view of the base starting to form into a wall cloud between Windsted and New Germany, MN.
Condensating inflow tail into the storm near New Germany, MN shortly after 6pm.
Beaver tail into the storm and developing wall cloud near New Germany, MN.
Beaver tail into the rotating wall cloud. Notice the interesting appendage on the bottom right side of the wall cloud.
More photos from this day can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157621682736939/
